Hi there, I just found this forum by searching for Roleplaying related forums on the Yuku/EZboard search facility. Although I;m an old hand at RPing, pen and paper style, (favourites include AD&D, Runequest and particularly Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay), I've never roleplayed online, and I've never encountered people RPing in a forum either!
SO, what I want to know is:

What gameworlds are you gaming in? If you have your own gameworlds and rules, where are they posted for perusal . . . ?
How do I create a character for gaming with, and without any GM or rulebooks no less?
Once I've got a character, how do I join a game?

Thanks for any responses, (I hope someone does), please make it plain for me, I'm a noob

We're a pretty old community RPing goes, but we've got a couple of fairly established settings set in Gaera... which is KIND of based on Final Fantasy games... 'though heavily modified.

What I'd recommend if you want to get into those games is that you go in on the Wiki (you can find the link at the top of this page) and read up on it. A lot of people play on AIM in chat-RPs, 'though forum RPs do exist.

Then of course there's the Other RPs. This means EVERYTHING from World of Darkness, AD&D (there's a Planescape RP going on for example) to Warhammer Fantasy, freeform, whatever. They're usually on a case to case basis on what books/rules you need, so just check out the proper thread in the OOC area.

There's a lot of things in the beginning, but generally ask questions and most people could help you out.

Not a lot of us use this forum as much as we used to do, what with growing up and what not. How much time YOU dedicate is up to you of course.

And if you feel confident in GMing a game, just post a thread about it in OOC and you'll see if people are up for it.

Thanks for the reply. System-wise the only thing I actually have at my disposal is Gurps lite, which I've never played with. Seeing as the board has it's own system, Philsys, I've attempted to undertake character creation with that.

A few questions:

1) I am having a couple of problems with the Philsys rules. Specifically, with regard to skills, figuring base attributes. The skills lists on the Wiki generally list what the base attribute is based on in terms of the three stat listing, but how is this figured to give an actual score? For instance, melee skills are <Cou>, but what do I do with the stats to produce a figure or figures for using the skill?

2) Is it correct that all (k) type skills only cost half a point per rank?

3) How do I 'pay' for abilities - spells, techs? There appears to be nothing stated about how these are payed for or what points pool is used and how it is calculated. . .

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is an instant-messenging client like Yahoo Instant Messenger or MSN/Windows Messenger. These all function more or less the same way, but different people are on different ones. RPGWW mostly uses AIM, and you'll find most of us there. If you don't want to install this on your computer (or if for some reason you can't), you can always just get a free screenname from AOL and use AIM Express, which you can find on AOL's website. It opens your buddy list in a window of your browser. Another option to use all of your messengers at once from your browser is meebo.com. That'll allow you to sign onto anything but IRC.

As for your other questions, I've always found that creating Philsys characters is easiest if you have someone to walk you through it, but the Wiki has made it a little more feasible to do alone. If it gets too daunting, just remember that you don't necessarily need to have a Philsys sheet to start RPing with the character. The most important thing is to fit in the setting (which just about anything can). If you join someone else's RP (one that someone else is GMing), they may ask for players with PS sheets. Until then you don't always need it.

That said, when you make a skill check in PS, you roll a 20-sided die. Rolling high is better, and rolling a 20 is often considered by systems that use 20-sided dice to be an automatic success. By the same token, a one is an auto-fail. Your GM will generally determine what you have to roll to succeed at a particular task, but it helps that you get to add your skill rank and your attributes to the result of your roll.

You don't have to pay for spells or techs in the same sense that GURPS wants you to. The use of a spell or tech will cost MP or TP respectively, but merely having them on your sheet doesn't require you to spend anything. They're merely options your character has at his/her disposal given the magic or combat skills you already gave them.

You are correct about knowledge skills.

We're pretty loose about money in Philsys. It is something we barely pay any attention to, really. If it seems reasonable for a starting character, no one's gonna really care if you have it. If you have any doubts about it, just put it on your sheet anyway with a little note, and the next person browsing the Character Closet can give you a second opinion.

I hope that was helpful, and I'll try to keep an eye on this thread in case there's anything else you need. Hope to see you around!

Most of us have our AIM screennames listed on our profiles. You'll see mine at the bottom of my post. Feel free to add me to your buddy list if you like, or basically anybody else who's opted to list their names.